Operation No 1:
put ur 6 months monthly expenses in bank/FD as emergency fund.

Operation No 2:
cut down ur unnecesary expenses. why letrik so high?

Operation No 3:
waht is ur goals, buy house? get married?invest? any others? research/study/plan wisely and act on it.

Operation No 4:
do not buy/invest which is u not understand.

Operation No 5:
repeat above 4 operations.

Fd is saving not investment.

u can concider BOND FUNDS for low risk-low returns as a beginer.

subcribe to the edge personal money.

suggestion only:

set  for short term and long term goals/plans. for short term u may put in low risk investment. for long term, u can concider high risk, but not nessacary if u low risk taker since u understand reward also low.

do not over commit. it may spoils ur plan.
do not put all the money in one palce. spilt it according ur plan. the lowers for long term and the highest for shor term plan.
u may get increment/bonus every year. so, increase ur asset portfolio/allocation yerly basis.

wahtever is make sure ur health and wealth protected well with insurance.

Hi GymBoi,

i'm no sifu (though surname also Wong ), thus i hope it's ok for me to bounce some ideas/thoughts with U based on your data.

1. Since "Necessities" are somehow pretty much fixed, we won't touch much there.
Just a Q - $350 for electricity may be a bit high unless it's like a home with 4 people around whole day & airconds blasting at 16 degrees.
U may want to check out energy efficient airconds, refrigerators & water heaters - makes a heck lot of difference
FYI - my 2002/2003 electricity bills were about $160+/-pm with 2 people only, both working thus hardly home.
Now, it's about $60+ to $100+pm - with 4 people, 2 of which are usually home (students) with aircond on
Changes were:
a. airconds and refrigerator with invertor technology (now cheap compared to 2002/2003)
b. ceiling heat insulation (rock wool between ceiling and roof)
c. tinted windows that reflects sunlight with just a strip or two of un-tinted area to see outside and let some light in.
Note - curtains help but traps heat INSIDE the house, whereas tinted windows reflects/helps block heat from entering. My current home has no curtains heheh

2. "Feel good" $700-ish ($200+$600 minus $100-ish for insurance and stuff) right?
Thus:
a. $700 is about $0.7K/$4.4K = 15.91%, is a bit high but not a big issue
b. Necessities and some "feel good" (parents' expenses + usage) ($2.6K+$0.1K insurance?) / $4.4K = 61.36%
c. Total around 78%, leaving about 27% for future spending + savings & investing, still healthy.
d. U mentioned savings only about $1K, about 22.72% for savings & investing - not bad, like U already know

e. What scares U or keeps U up at night is not debts or having enough to eat BUT buying a house right?
bro, may be another point of view will help yar
+U are only 27, your income will increase drastically over time as U add value, gain experiences & skills AND add more value
+Once your emergency savings has hit 3 to 6 months expenses or more, U will be quite well "protected" from Murphy (as in Murphy's law)
+U are now debt free + can save 20%+ of your net income. Look around, how many 20 yr olds, heck 30 yr olds, can say this?
+Investments, like a snowball, starts small & insignificant, but with persistence & time, grows to a critical mass and the returns are > 3x your net salary's savings & investing
+Which, by that time, no house so what - can buy when market crashes or when opportunity avails itself, coz U have enough assets generating more and more
+House which is used as a home, is NOT an investment. It's a "personal" thing - grow roots/priority VS logic, unless bought after a crash.
It's use cost U $ - mortgage, repairs, maintenance, mortgage, etc.
Please don't believe me, ask your friends - especially those who bought "the biggest home" they can.
After 3+ years, ask them how much their home is actually costing them in terms of % of their net income pa (mortgage +cukai tanah & pintu +repairs & maintenance).
+When/If U get married, cost of living for 2 is close to 1.5 unless U start producing babies lar hehe.

all the above
VS
-Having a house and having hell trying to make ends meet + no savings & investments?

If I were U, i'd focus on $ mgt (thus good balance of usage Vs savings & investments), and then mug up and plan out your holistic investing.
Just like a good business - keep costs low/in control AND build future revenue by investing in good products (investment assets) & R&D (learning)

Just some ideas / PoV to put a different spin on things yar, no right/wrong

eh, surname Wong, name Mun Keong - don't Mister mister lar, i tend to look around expecting to see my dear old daddy when i hear ppl calling Mr. Wong
MK or Mun Keong or wongmunkeong (handle) is good.

1. Airconds and inverter stuff
I bought mine when i moved house.
If yours are new, perhaps it would not make sense to dump them.
What can be done now?
er.. temperature control via sunshade (ie. "onnings" and sun-reflective tints) + insulation (ceiling and/or roof just beneath them tiles). Then perhaps 20 to 23 celcius will be cold enough for your parents/U.
FYI - i'm a heat hater yet with the aircond at about 24 celcius (after room cooled down), it's a bit chilly that i've to use a comforter to cover while zzz hehe. That's in my place lar with ceiling insulation (rock wool) + sunshaded windows + reflective tinted windows.
Long term = lower cost as rock wool, "onnings" and reflective tints dont use electricity or move, thus very low or 0 maintenance/repair cost for a long while (mine's at least 5 years+ now)

As for the "expensive" gas, i think this is a common "suburban myth".
An aircond is engineered and designed NOT to leak gas. Gas or refrigerant is not "used up" like petrol in a car leh.
Thus, there should not be any need for "gas refills" UNLESS there are leaks - either during installation or accidents/wear/tear.

2. Savings
It's always XX months' AVERAGE EXPENSES
eg. if U spend say $96K a year, your average expenses would be $8K per month.
Thus to be buffered from Murphy and his laws, should have at least $24K around in FD, Flexi mortgage (prepayments) and perhaps some in bond funds if have more than 3 months' average expenses built up.
Why not Salary of xx months? Murphy doesn't care how much U earn, it's how much outgoing U need to buffer

3. Future
a. Home
Rent first or live with parents. I'm unsure what's with the obsession of "moving out" with the new generation, especially when we still want to or have to care for our elderly parents. Just a PoV yar. Just to share - i bought my first home at 31, FORCED to buy coz my Sis booked it and wanted to "sell" me her portion of our parents house, which was HUGE (those days lar). Thus, i bought her booked house and sold her my portion of parents' house heheh.

b. Marriage
If one can't afford to marry Woman A, perhaps Woman A is "lebih" (ie. high maintenance and/or asking for too much) OR one is not ready yet to take up the responsibility of caring for another.
Personally, i think that as a responsible man, one should afford to pay for one's marriage, not rely on parents
AND if the woman or woman's family want this/that extravaganza (compared to both your earning/savings capacity) Vs the actual RM10 or RM20 to get married... <claps hand> NEXT CANDIDATE! 
A good partnership (yup marriage is a partnership) should enrich BOTH parties, share goals/visions etc. may not be same methods but similar values make it much easier.

c. Babies...
er.. cost wise, operational cost per month is about $1K until primary school then it drops a bit UNLESS U intend to send for private / international school.. eeek!

d. Bottom line "Future"
It's up to U to control. Why are U in a hurry to marry? "Accident" ke?
There's no such thing as "age to marry" unless U are a woman and WANT to have biological kids - and even then, financially successful women don't even need to marry to have biological kids 

Dont jump in when not ready lar. Build up your ammo, assets, knowledge, etc.
If your woman knows what U are doing, if she doesn't love U even more and/or works with U to build a future... <claps hand> NEXT CANDIDATE!
Rushing in unprepared or semi is crazy at best and suicidal at worst.
At least U worry only now, which is good - Worry, plan to solve, execute
IF U are IN IT, not only worry leh - can bleed very badly too 

------------------
Investments
After your 3 mths to 6 mths expenses buffered?
I'd suggest U keep accumulating ammo in your FD, cash and bond funds
WHILE
learning about Asset Allocation (thus all the different investment assets/vehicles like stocks, bonds, properties, REITs (a type of stock) and their related items like equity funds & bond funds
THEN
plan out an asset allocation
+ what to invest in to make up your each asset class (PBBank, DLady, BSDREIT, TWRREIT, STAREIT, Equity Funds, Bond Funds)
& how to invest (value, trend, value cost averaging, dollar cost averaging, a combination, et.c)
& how to finance them (savings planning + EPF planning for A/C1 and A/C2 to take out + leveraging if wanted though becareful)

er.. in reality (mine lar, dunno about yours and others), there's no such thing as a "safe" investment
Even FD, if U think of it as investment, isn't "100% safe" - only up to $250K (pls correct me if i'm outdated) is insured per person per bank.
In addition, FD give how much %pa VS real inflation rate %pa?
eg. Chicken rice / char keuy tiao in 2010 size how big & cost how much VS now?

Thus, IMHO, Asset Allocation as a basic overarching control structure is best - balancing liquidity, fluctuations, capital growth & dividends.
Simple example that i am personally using:
1/3 in Fixed income instruments which gets % like FD/Flexi Mortgage, EPF, Bond funds
1/3 in Biz equities like "normal" stocks, "normal" equity funds, own small biz
1/3 in Real Estate related equities like shop lots, houses/apartments, offices, plantations, REITs in similar sub-asset classes
Note:
a. All these % (the 1/3) are excluding my emergency buffer.
b. I don't strictly keep my asset classes to 33.33% - i let it drift/run up to a difference of 25% or so before rebalancing / correcting the run/drift.
eg.  min 24%+/-  max 41%+/-
c. Thus, even though i stock / REITs pick and use programmatic investing via value averaging + DCA, the above Asset Allocation helps corrects my course structurally.
ie. i'm also a worker and a crazy saver (for now until i hit a point when my investment returns pa are 2 time more than my net salary+bonus savings & investing pa), thus at times, especially my $ in EPF & Flexi Mortgage is waaay too much as a % vs other asset classes, i'm triggered to "force buy" some equities.

Just some thoughts, no right / wrong yar 

Personal Money is a monthly published magazine. U can buy a copy @ Popular Bookstore to test water & if U find it good, subscribe. It's ok lar as one of the better ways to spend $10+/-, more value to me than a cup of Starbucks

Hello GymBoi, what industry are you working? I am interest on your secrets on how you attain RM5k salary after 3years. I am migrant worker from another state. My salary very low only RM2k. Have to pay rent.

Personal Money is a monthly published magazine. U can buy a copy @ Popular Bookstore to test water & if U find it good, subscribe. It's ok lar as one of the better ways to spend $10+/-, more value to me than a cup of Starbucks

My apologies GymBoi - didn't see the "added" until now

Clarifications on my view of Financial Freedom
Enough Assets
generating enough $
to cover or more than cover expenses

Reducing the above to simple maths: $ generated by Assets pa >= Expenses pa

Yup, when reached, working for $ will not be a driving factor.
Working out of love and passion becomes the driving factor.

In your example of
FD: $500K, say attracting 4%pa (that's $20K pa generated)
Monthly expenses: $5Kpm, thus $60K pa
Thus, $20K < $60K, thus still not financially free

Yup, thou art right - even if U have donkey lots of $, IF YOUR EXPENSES IS DONKEY HIGH, U still won't be financially free.
Too many people are just focused on increasing income/returns, while ignoring expenses/cost % which rise in tandem OR FASTER than the rise of income/returns %
Thus, i stupidly advocate 2 prong attack - invest + control expenses/costs. Logical mar

BTW, if one has say $3M in just FD
generating $120K pa
and annual expenses "only" $100K pa, reinvest $20K pa to beat/keep up with inflation
PUN DAH CUKUP, needn't tinker with Asset Allocation / etc. if one doesn't intend to grow it further.
Me - i'm a bit stupid, i want to leave something behind for my family & charities 

No right/wrong yar, just personal views & thoughts 

hi cynthusc...me got question...where do you get this idea ( 'My advise to you would be to first start a savings plan by putting away an emergency fund (about 6 months salary) to cope with any emergencies you might have' ) meaning just puttin 100% our salary into the bank and how are we gonna survive....

*my apologies asking you dumb question since i dont have financial knowledge...hope you can answer 

Wow. So I grad 25 years old- have ptptn loan. 4 years to save for emergency fund. Already 29. I also need to save for wedding fund- no girl want to marry guy with no money. Add 1 more year 30. Then we save for house deposit 20k+7k fee. This 1 need 2 more year. 32 years old. After that kids come in, taking about 1k/mth. 34 years old. By this time new car needed (old one given by parents)- need to save deposit. PTPTN by now still have a while to pay for. Around age 40+ need to save for kids tertiary education. The boss man give me increment a few hundred a year only.

When do I start saving for investment then? Is the conclusion I need to join BN to get the financial freedom I want? 

+100

If got discipline, no need track at all. If no discipline, track also no use, cos won't follow also

Kesimpulannya - For ppl with no financial discipline, better dun apply CC at all

of course your car situation is different, it's a NEED, not a WANT right? the danger of credit card is that with the insane credit limit, a lot of people will justify a WANT to become a NEED.

e.g. the LV bag that you mentioned, is that a NEED or a WANT? does anyone ever NEED an LV bag? 

keeping cash in box, tracking in excel, paying off via online banking are just methods to check spending via credit, not to overspend. everyone will have own methods and thinking and it's good to share out different ideas. i agree with you that if one has discipline, then there is no need to track but honestly speaking, how many of us have bought something we WANT but do not NEED? I can honestly put my hands up high to that question. We are only human.

u said u r just a tech, but your financial planning & discipline in saving is much better than many high educated & high income ppl who every month end pocket koyak Keep it up Bro! 

1.6K shld be his basic pay of full time work, then he is hardworking enuf to work part time for more income, otherwise impossible to save RM2K with 1.6K income  but feel proud of him coz not many ppl can do that 

Im not kedukut, i chase with my wife with a penny in my pocket only and my love is unlimited.

"When got money and time, i can chase a gal, when i dont hv anything the gal can dumb/ignore me."

When i dating my wife, i told my wife the money i cant spend to her on fancy holiday or gift becoz i need to save and marry her.

I been thru heartbreak, and learn from my mistake. I dont need money and time to buy my wife heart.
I tell honest to my wife im not rich man, my father pass away ,i dont inherit any house from my parent, i bread and butter for my family.
I work hard in my jobs. I dont smoke.I dont go clubbing, I dont fancy car, i dont spend money unnecessary for me and my wife.
The reason she like me becoz im simple and poor man.

I dont need to use money but used my heart with honesty, humble and love to tame a wild horse.

Having a gf like a male jokey riding on a wild female horse with bag of money and time.
The wild horse will jump and shake me out ,  im using my time and my money bag to balance on the wild horse.
Once i lost my money bag and time bag , i will fall down and the wild horse will find another jokey to ride on.

Zoo Keeper taming a Female Lion
When ever the lion roar, the zoo keeper will feed the female Lion with meat day by day.
Once the Zoo Keeper dont have anymore meat; the female Lion will eat the Zoo Keeper heart and run away.

Im 31, i meet my wife from same company. Also part of Personal Financial management topic.

So dating lunch time and after work onli. Save time and and save cost eating at nearby. No petrol, no need fancy restaurant, no fancy gift.
But got buy her flower.

I am chinese and I am racist and I agree with your post

ah.. young padiwan, methinks there is mix up between "comfortable / having choices" VS "happy" in the examples above.
Happy IMHO can be achieved without severe indulgence - like playing with my puppy/dog or playing with my children & seeing them grow smarter/stronger/better.

me - father to a young girl.
my wish for her in this context (boy-girl)?
to be MORE THAN able to take care of herself
BEFORE getting into a serious relationship

reason?
unhappy & incapable woman + unhappy & incapable man = die of implosion/explosion/blames/etc. (like 2 wrongs dont make a right)
happy & capable woman  + unhappy & incapable man = shouldn't happen unless woman likes to take care of strays. never mind, still ok neh
happy & capable woman  + happy & capable man = superb partnership & win-win situation
happy & capable woman  + no man = still a happy & capable woman that can help herself & contribute to world mar

just a low-brow's thoughts

Looking at your expenses, since 2.8K was your take home pay and you manage to save 2K per month, I was wondering how you do it. I know you have listed down everything, but I don't see anything like giving to parents below. So, do you mean your expenses of 800 never included them? Just curious how people with <3K take home pay able to save so much. For me, that kind of expenses is just PAMA fund that I allocated and since I'm working outstation, thus I pay rental. Food wise, we have about the same allocation. I would say that not everyone able to save 2K, in your case a vast 72% of your take home pay due to we have other commitment such as parents. You've been pretty much impressive about savings, but then again, it does not apply to everyone, even people with higher take home pay than you.